Canada

Russell Williams, seen after being sentenced in October 2010, led an unparalleled double life: helping arrange the air movement and protection of the world&#8217;s most powerful leaders at the same time his violent sexual behaviour spun out of control.

The same day Russell Williams disposed of the frozen body of the second woman he murdered, the former air force colonel attended a top secret meeting in Toronto arranging security for the G20 summit, where he was to help protect the flights of U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders, the National Post has learned.

The Feb. 3, 2010, meeting of senior military leaders, chaired by Brigadier-General Jean Collin, commander of the armed forces in Ontario, shows the trust Williams maintained before he was unmasked as a deadly sex predator.

His never-revealed high-level role also highlights his unparalleled double life: helping arrange the air movement and protection of the world’s most powerful leaders at the same time his violent sexual behaviour spun out of control.

Williams was among those responsible for planning the air component of the summits, including the arriving and departing dignitaries and protecting the area’s airspace in conjunction with North American Aerospace Defence Command.

“I bet there are a few U.S. Secret Service guys perturbed right now over a serial killer helping plan the president’s movements. By that time in February, he would have known the entire procedure for arrivals and air movement for the summits,” said a military source. Another source, however, downplayed Williams’ importance in summit planning.

The meeting was convened on the ground floor of the Denison Armoury, headquarters for Joint Task Force Central, which coordinates army, air force and navy operations in the province.

Invited were senior military officials representing Canada’s army, air force and navy, each of which had specific responsibilities for the June summits of the G8 in Huntsville, Ont., and G20 in Toronto.

As commander of 8 Wing air unit and of CFB Trenton, Canada’s largest air base, Williams was to have a role in the visits of 20 heads of government, including Mr. Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Chinese President Hu Jintao, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Saudi king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

He was arrested shortly after the meeting, however, and replaced as base commander and on the G20 security team.

Williams wore a casual flight suit at the meeting, which was not unusual. As a private session running late into the night, all officers wore work clothes as opposed to dress uniforms, according to two sources also at the meeting.

What was unusual, however, was how quiet and uninvolved Williams was during the five hour session. There was no sign of the shining star that had risen quickly through the ranks.

Williams sat at the table with about 25 senior officers and quietly answered a question or two but made no presentation, as some of his peers did, including some PowerPoint presentations on a screen beside the tables arranged to form a large rectangle.

Around the outside of the table sat support personnel.

In hindsight, Williams’ reserved manner might be explained by exhaustion and mental distraction.

On Jan. 28, Williams broke into the Belleville home of Jessica Lloyd, 27, raping her and kidnapping her during the night, taking her to his cottage in Tweed, Ont.

The next day, after more abuse, he smashed her head with a flashlight and strangled her. He put her body in his garage and drove to his base, where he slept.

The next morning, he flew troops to California and returned to the base and, on Sun., Jan. 31, drove to Ottawa where he shared a home with his wife. He stayed there until Tuesday when he returned to Tweed.

Through that night, he drove to a rural area and disposed of Ms. Lloyd’s body, which had stiffened in the unheated garage.

“He returned to his Tweed home where he vacuumed his house and wiped the floors. He did the same to his truck,” according to the agreed statement of facts read in court. It was within the same calendar day but likely after sleeping that he drove to Toronto for the G20 meeting on Wednesday evening.

The next day, Feb. 4, Williams was stopped in Belleville at a police road block looking at the tires of all passing drivers. His Nissan Pathfinder and Toyo tires matched the vehicle seen outside Ms. Lloyd’s house, secretly making Williams a suspect.

Police put him under surveillance. Two days later, on Sun., Feb. 7, police asked him to come to a police interview. After hours of questioning he admitted he killed Ms. Lloyd and Marie-France Comeau, 37, who worked at his base. He also admitted to sexually assaulting two other women and to a string of fetish raids during which he photographed himself masturbating while wearing lingerie of women and young girls.

Despite a lengthy and detailed recitation of Williams’ movements prior to his arrest, read in court at his trial, no mention was made of his trip to Toronto or role in G20 security.

On Tuesday, a military spokesperson could not comment prior to deadline.

For some at the meeting, Williams’ most memorable feature was his awkward forelock that remains as a patch at the front of his head when the rest of his hair retreated dramatically. With his head hung during much of the meeting, it was a patch that would again be seen in the months ahead when Williams walked, head stooped, in and out of the courthouse while the world’s news cameras waited.

Had Williams been able to continue his job, it would not be the first time the lives of world leaders were in his hands.

Before taking command of the air base, he was a pilot who flew Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Governor-General and other dignitaries.

In October, he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder; two counts of sexual assault; two counts of forcible confinement; and 86 counts of break-and-enter and theft.

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